WH: Climate change is happening now, and it is alarming: The White House has released a years-in-the-making climate change assessment that predicts the alarming effects of rapidly changing global weather patterns. Rising sea levels, more droughts in the West, more hurricanes and more tornadoes will affect every American, the report says.

So what to do about it? Congress has shown no willingness to act. Democrats passed a sweeping climate change bill in 2010 and promptly lost their control of the House of Representatives.

President Obama is expected to enact new regulations unilaterally in June that would place new restrictions on power plants. The White House climate change fixer, new special adviser John Podesta, said efforts by Republicans to rein in Obama’s climate change authority have “zero chance” of working.

(CNN) - Voters in North Carolina, Indiana and Ohio on Tuesday kick off five straight weeks of primary contests that could give us a clearer indication of whether establishment Republicans have the upper hand against the tea party movement for control of the party.

The results could back up recent tough talk from Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, who predicted big wins for incumbents facing primary challenges from the right, saying, "I think we are going to crush them everywhere."

Asheville, North Carolina (CNN) - On the eve of North Carolina primary balloting, the state tea party is not backing down, despite reports the Republican establishment is fighting to "humiliate" and win big.

In North Carolina, Republicans are watching closely to see if Thom Tillis, the state House speaker and maybe the party's best bet to unseat endangered Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan this November, can capture 40% of the vote in Tuesday's GOP Senate primary.

Washington (CNN) - The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it's launching six new television commercials this week in five states.

The ad buy, which the pro-business organization describes as "massive," is the latest volley by the group, which is one of the biggest spenders among the outside groups so far this midterm election cycle

Buxton, North Carolina (CNN) - The wind is whipping up as Taylor Griffin stands on a tiny sliver of sand on Cape Hatteras on a recent afternoon, listening to a family whose entire livelihood might soon tumble into the sea. The Atlantic Ocean is just a few feet away, and high tide is coming in. These are the waves that have been steadily eroding one of the country's most storied beaches for a generation, threatening a pencil-thin stretch of barrier islands, the Outer Banks, that produce hundreds of millions of dollars in yearly tourism revenue for the state.

Carol Dawson and her son, Jeff, own several businesses here, including the Cape Hatteras Motel, an oceanfront structure propped up by wooden beams and, these days, piles of sandbags. The Dawsons complain that the federal government - mainly, the National Park Service and their congressman, Rep. Walter Jones - have abandoned them. Their beaches haven't been nourished in decades, crucial access roads have been breached by hurricanes, and endangered sea turtles are offered more protections than the 4,000 or so full-time residents of Hatteras Island.

(CNN) - New polls in four southern states that could determine whether the Democrats keep control of the Senate in this November's midterm elections indicate close contests.

And according to the New York Times Upshot/Kaiser Family Foundation surveys, released Wednesday, President Barack Obama's approval ratings are in the low 30's in two of those states and hovering at or just above the 40% mark in the other two states. Republicans are trying to frame the midterm contests as a referendum on the President and on his federal health care law, better known as Obamacare.

Washington (CNN) - They are two of the hottest battlegrounds in the 2014 fight for control of the U.S. Senate.

And Wednesday a leading pro-Democratic group said it's going up with TV commercials in North Carolina and Arkansas that target Republicans challenging incumbent Democratic Sens. Kay Hagan and Mark Pryor, who face tough re-elections this year.